[The Zimbabwe-born commentator was born with tumors in both eyes and his parents were told he wouldn't live beyond infancy. They sent him to a school for the blind in neighboring South Africa at age six in the absence of a similar facility at home.]
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In this photo taken Friday, Oct. 22, 2010 blind commentator, Dean du Plessis, commentates on a cricket match in Harare, Zimbabwe. (AP Photo/Tsvangirai Mukwazhi) |
Du Plessis hears the power and direction of the hit. He listens to the speed and spin of the ball, along with the players' exertions and their cries of elation or frustration. He senses the excitement — or otherwise — of the play on the cricket field and collates the scores with a computer-like memory.
In the media area at Harare's Country Club sports field, other journalists see the ball soar skyward after a sharp crack on the bat.
"That's a big one. It's gone for six," said the 33-year-old Du Plessis, his opaque eyes gazing into the distance.
It has, flying way out of the field.
Team members and spectators murmur applause as the often sedate game of cricket that originated in Britain goes on. In a fast-moving sport like basketball, De Plessis' feat would likely be impossible. He asks a friend to confirm the score on the board and feeds the latest to state radio.
"I have to ensure I am totally accurate," he told The Associated Press. "I'm generally spot on or very close. I think I have a pretty big hard drive in my head."
On this day, in a friendly match against New Zealand visitors in Harare, he doesn't have the advantage of mini cameras and microphones placed in the stumps, three upright sticks at each end of the pitch, that are routinely placed on the field at top international games. Used as a "television umpire" and to assist in television coverage, they help Du Plessis "watch" the game.
"When they are there, the mikes are very important," he said.
In commentating at international games in Bangladesh and South Africa, he said he listens to fellow sighted commentators and also asks questions of scorekeepers and players alike.
Former Australian star Test cricket player Shayne Warne has body movements and verbal grunts that are easy to discern, according to Du Plessis. Other world sportsmen have an audible "signature" too.
A former England cricket team captain talks to a struck ball, willing it to roll further to the four-run boundary line, said Du Plessis.
The Zimbabwe-born commentator was born with tumors in both eyes and his parents were told he wouldn't live beyond infancy. They sent him to a school for the blind in neighboring South Africa at age six in the absence of a similar facility at home.
It was there that his passion for sports was born as he listened to radio commentaries. Above the sound of firecrackers and the "cacophony" of tens of thousands of cricket-mad Asian supporters, he easily followed an Indian cricket series by "tuning in" to all the sound effects.
Zimbabwe beat South Africa in the 1992 cricket World Cup and soon after beat top Test cricket nation England in Harare.
"I was already hooked," said Du Plessis.
A former telephone operator, he now works as a media editor at the national cricket governing body's headquarters in Harare. He reads braille but says audio programs on mobile phones and computers have made punched braille manuscripts almost obsolete. He follows martial arts competitions in Zimbabwe and belongs to motorcycle club that meets Sundays, enjoying riding on the back of fast bikes.
"He is not inhibited nearly as much as you would expect," said veteran award-winning Zimbabwe sports writer John Kelley. "His memory for the scores and his match summaries are absolutely astonishing."
A policeman at a roadblock recognized Du Plessis immediately from his radio voice when he said good morning and let him proceed.
Du Plessis said he dreams of working full time for a major international sports channel, "but as soon as people learn I'm blind they back off."
Still, he has shared commentary boxes with the world's best in South Africa and Asia, and earned many colleagues' respect.
"He's unique. On air, you can't tell he's blind. Only a circle of cricket followers know he is," said Dave Emberton, a Zimbabwe broadcast news reader.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
[In June this year, Bharti announced it would invest $600 million in Nigeria's mobile phone market, but the company faces a fight in its hopes to expand in that country as MTN Nigeria already holds a 50 percent market share while other networks also vie for customers.
In Ghana, Bharti is expected to rebrand Zain Ghana to Airtel Ghana by close of year, but again faces stiff competition from runaway market leader MTN Ghana, which commands 54 per cent market share. ]
This comes just months after buying out Zain Africa, including its operations in Ghana, for $10.7 billion.
A statement on the Bharti Airtel's website quoted the CEO, Manoj Kohli as saying that the company will create call centers with partners including IBM Corp., Tech Mahindra and SPANCO, with initial contracts of five years.
It said the move comes as Indian outsourcing firms began a hiring spree this year to take advantage of job losses stemming from the global economic downturn.
"We are confident that Africa will revolutionize the outsourcing sector, Kohli said.
Earlier in the year, Bharti signed a 10-year contract with IBM for IBM to provide and manage the computing technology and services that power Bharti Airtel's mobile communications network in all the 16 countries in Africa.
At that point, Bharti Airtel assured Africans that it will revolutionize the way Africans communicate.
In June this year, Bharti announced it would invest $600 million in Nigeria's mobile phone market, but the company faces a fight in its hopes to expand in that country as MTN Nigeria already holds a 50 percent market share while other networks also vie for customers.
In Ghana, Bharti is expected to rebrand Zain Ghana to Airtel Ghana by close of year, but again faces stiff competition from runaway market leader MTN Ghana, which commands 54 per cent market share.
Bharti however states its intentions in the strongest of terms with the poaching of no less a person than the Chief Marketing Officer MTN Ghana, George Andah, who now works as Airtel's CMO at the continental level.
Meanwhile Zain Ghana's Corporate Communications Director, Carmen Bruce-Annan has also moved to Vodafone Ghana, and due to start work on Monday, November 1, 2010.
Bharti reportedly faces challenges in its Indian market, as a price war has driven costs down to less than 1 cent a minute.
The price war has also begun in Africa where, Bharti, for instance, is one of two companies (the other being Vodafone) that now charges only 8 Ghana pesewas (about half of a cent) for one minute of call.
Meanwhile MTN Ghana recently launched three new price plans that offer customers as low as 7.5 Ghana pese was per minute of calls, including even foreign calls in some cases.
Bharti's other holdings in Africa include networks in Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Story by Samuel Dowuona/Adom FM/Ghana
